here and now, the story of the rest of our lives
by BiblioMatsuri
Summary: Here, glimpses of strange eternities. Now, the story is just beginning. True drabbles, WIP. Newest: cytogenetic "I stared at the color-inverted afterimages..."
1. philanthropist

Blanket disclaimer: I don't own DP.

BGM: "end tree" composed by 164 and Fuwari-P, sung by GUMI.

* * *

Navigating by the incandescence of the streetlights outside the living room window, Danny dragged himself up the stairs. He half-stumbled through his door and fell into bed.

He sat up ramrod straight, gasping out a frozen breath, mind full of the echoes of phantom screams. Without a thought for the unfinished homework assignment on his desk or the pancakes his sister had planned for breakfast, he transformed and flew off into the dawn.

Ten minutes later, he finds the problem. Two hours later, the wish-granter is captured, the damage undone and the child freed from a curse is waving goodbye.

* * *

Blanket A/N: According to Microsoft Word's Word Count function, this chapter has precisely 100 words. Prompts from randomwordgenerator. net.


	2. deckchair

BGM: "end tree" composed by 164 and Fuwari-P, sung by GUMI.

* * *

A young man in an oversized Crash Nebula shirt stood in the glaring summer sunshine, blinking incredulously at the sight in front of him. Squelching across the wet concrete, he walked around to the deep end and waited for the most likely culprit to come a little closer.

Quick as reflex, his arm shot out and grabbed one end of a bright orange pool noodle. "Dani."

"Yes?" the girl asked innocently.

He shot her an unimpressed look. "You're helping me get Mrs. Manson's deck chair out of that tree. …How did you even get it up there, though?"


	3. breeding

BGM: "end tree" composed by 164 and Fuwari-P, sung by GUMI.

* * *

A hawk-nosed woman in a white coat stared over the rims of her glasses at the wide-eyed young man and the young woman holding his hand. "Is this some kind of joke?"

The couple traded a look, and he raised his free hand. Green light bloomed in his palm. Not daring to look away, he asked the doctor, "Still don't believe me?"

She sat stock still, a deer in headlights, and asked in a voice half a step above a whisper, "And you came to me?"

"You weren't our best shot, you're our last chance." And the light went out.


	4. uneasiness

BGM: "Festival Undoworld" by YM, sung by GUMI.

* * *

Ghostwriter peered over Sam's shoulder. "Oh, I remember that! Poor twits. They did ask."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You knew Lovecraft?"

Ghostwriter shook his head. "Some of his drinking buddies starting chanting random syllables and lighting candles, just for a lark, and…"

Tucker shivered. "Lucky they only got you."

"Oh, they didn't," Ghostwriter said absently. "Incidentally, ichor stains are a pain to get out of boot leather."

Tucker decided he didn't really want to know.

Sam had no such misgivings. "Lovecraft knew about the Ghost Zone?"

"But of course!" Ghostwriter smiled brightly, all twinkling neon green eyes and needle-sharp teeth.


	5. prism

The boy laughs, gloved hands drawing traceries of frost on glass. He pushes off the wall and floats lazily to the other side of the room. Flipping over, he sinks through the floor and into the kitchen. Mom is gearing up to fight something and Dad looks very big and clumsy. Jazz is reading in the living room, right where he left her. Down in the basement, Tucker is absorbed in his PDA as per usual, its screen lighting his face from below. Sam is rolling her eyes and scowling, and she's beautiful and perfect.

He'll keep them safe forever.

* * *

A/N: Inspired by sapphireswimming and DannyPhantomSG1's collaboration "Butterfly".


	6. prudish

"This time next year, I'll be loaded," Tucker proudly announced. "The house always wins, right?"

Sam punched him in the arm.

"Ow," he whined, rubbing the spot.

Sam turned back to the computer, clicking her way through the records. She froze, then turned and glared.

Curious, Danny leaned over her shoulder and read through the spreadsheet. "Tucker, is this a betting pool based on my hypothetical and completely imaginary relationship with Sam?"

Tucker froze. "…yes."

Eyes fixed on the screen, Danny calmly told Tucker, "As stated in the Best Friend Code, you get a ten-second head start. _Nine_."

Tucker bolted.


	7. brawnier

Danny dug through the mess of old textbooks, wrinkled papers and bits and pieces of ghost weaponry in various stages of repair. "Come on, I know Sam's History notes are somewhere in here," he muttered under his breath.

Then there was a sudden sharp bloom of pain on the side of his head, and then there were Dash and his cronies.

Danny stared up at them and mentally reamed out the public school system. …_and I'll be late_.

Once he was sure they were gone Danny invisibly phased out of his locker, notes in one hand, and ran like heck.


	8. motionless

Note: Follows #5 prism.

BGM: "In Like a Lion (Always Winter)" by Relient K

* * *

William Lancer burst through the school doors. "Get the ghost shield up, now!"

He was met with silence, a chill stillness identical to the one he'd just fled. Heart sinking, he speed-walked down the halls, shoes squeaking on the cold tile. He opened the front office door, cutting through the empty room to Principal Ishiyama's office.

The room was unfortunately occupied, if one could call a cryogenically preserved corpse in a swivel chair "occupation", Julie's face contorted with fear, hand on her phone.

Distantly, William realized he was collapsed on the floor. "_Catch-22_, they were right. He is a monster."


	9. grownups

"Aagh!" Dani yelped, reaching up to neaten her hair. Well, as neat as that bird's nest could ever get. "Why do people keep ruffling my hair? Do I have a magnet on my head or something?"

The older boy snickered. "Well, it was pretty funny."

She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes.

"It's like watching an angry kitten," he continued. "Like you're trying to be scary, but even with the creepy eyes and everything you're just so cute and fluffy."

In the end, Tucker just hoped no one ever found out he'd been beaten up by a little girl.


	10. presupposing

"Snow melts," he said as quietly as a river frozen over. "I paid for my power, even before I knew it was going to cost me."

She stopped short. "The accident."

"No."

"…What?"

"Remember when we were kids – whatever happened, somehow I was always the one who came home bruised and soaked and whatever?"

"Yeah."

"Not by accident, anyway," he amended. "Well, it turns out that my horrible luck as a kid was because I'd use up a lot more than 14 years' quota of not dying."

"What?" she giggled, something very like fear clawing its way up her throat.


	11. wane

She'd come in past curfew so often, the guard had just waved her and her friend in white through without thinking. She'd been trapped, a knife at her back to prevent her from resisting. And then like a poor man's miracle, he'd slipped and somehow stabbed himself, and she'd managed to disarm him and call for help.

In the chaos, just for a moment, she'd seen a familiar half-scared, half-proud smile reflected in the mirror. Not exactly a guardian angel.

Now she held a potted white lily, her lone profile veiled in mourning black.

"You never really left, did you?"


	12. pathogens

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Sam, we always keep secrets. My parents, your parents… That hasn't changed."

She pulled back. "Well, what's wrong with secrets?"

"Nothing," he replied. "It's just that now, my secrets are a little… weirder."

"A lit- Danny, the sky was _striped_," she pressed.

"That was just environmental overspill," he hedged.

"The upside-down castle?" she retorted.

"Aragon."

"The ice forest?"

"…That should fade by summer."

"It's January."

"Yeah, I know. Ice. Winter. Duh."

She drew in a breath, and let it out. "Danny…"

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk."

He started. "Why?"

"Secrets, I understand. But…"

"Not me."

"No."


	13. blackening

"Sleep, yeah. I vaguely remember that," Danny joked.

Jazz paused, looked and took a moment to examine him, far too thin and tired, months-old purplish bags under his eyes. She snapped her textbook shut, putting her notes aside, and proclaimed, "You should go on vacation."

"Yeah, I'll get right on it," he snarked. "As soon as random malevolent ghosts stop coming through the portal every half-hour or so."

She smiled, sweet as sugar candy. "I'm sorry, little brother, was that too subtle?"

He shot her an unimpressed look.

She smiled again, wholly insincere. Now, where had she put that brochure?


	14. blazes

"Do I want to know why your legal guardians couldn't be here?"

The girl fidgeted. "Auntie said to tell you or Principal Ishiyama that there was a 'Code Hotplate', whatever that means."

Lancer blanched. "I see. …All the forms are in order, so I see no problems with your enrollment into Casper High School for the coming fall semester."

She beamed.

"Of course, Principal Ishiyama will make the final decision." He hesitated. "There is one thing I'd like to confirm."

She sat up straighter, ready for the inevitable catch.

"Are you sure you want to take Home Economics, Miss Fenton?"


	15. normaliser

Sam twitched.

Tucker goggled. "Dude…"

They burst into laughter.

Danny groused, waiting out the noise.

Tucker rubbed his eyes. "Seriously, though, I know we pulled our costumes out of a hat, but you could have just switched it when no one was looking."

"Yeah," Danny admitted. "But it could have been worse. I mean, look at Nathan – the poor kid has to be a hot dog."

"That's horrible!" Sam announced.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed.

"Of all the inconsiderate potential costume choices, a meat product? What about vegetarian students?"

Danny just looked at her. "I think you might be missing the point."


	16. allegory

Note: Follows directly after "normaliser".

* * *

"You didn't answer the question, though," Sam pointed out. "Why a dog?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, plainly nervous. "Well, there's this one thing I read somewhere. Don't laugh, okay?"

They quickly assured him so, saying nothing about the presence or absence of video evidence for blackmail purposes.

"It goes something like: 'A dog is a wolf that's halfway to being human'." He smiled sheepishly.

Sam and Tucker traded a look.

"I think you might be reading too much into this," Sam said.

"Creepy moment," Tucker pointed out.

"Then explain how you guys somehow got 'witch' and 'robot'."


	17. dated

She tapped through pages of reports, red hair washed out and streaked with gray, profile stark in the light blue glow of computer screens.

He leaned against the wall, looming, every inch of skin draped in stark black fabric.

"Sneaky isn't so effective when you glow in the dark, Danny."

Green lights flared from beneath his hood. "Are you ever going to stop nagging me?"

"When I'm dust, and not a moment sooner," she replied, voice raspy with wear.

He stilled, just when a mortal man would have stopped to draw breath.

She shook her head. Some things never changed.


	18. coordination

Danny trudged over to the couch and flopped down beside Dani.

She ignored him in favor of her book.

Danny looked around for something to do. Then he took a closer look.

"Dani?" he asked.

She slipped a pencil between the pages to mark her place. "Yes?"

"Is that one of Jazz's old hairbands?"

She looked up, blue eyes inquisitive. "Yes, it is."

Danny took a breath. "Listen, I know it's supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery and all, but…"

"But?"

"If you dye your hair red, I'm telling Jazz."

She looked unimpressed.

"And then I'm telling Mom."


	19. tapping

Around him a dozen lives gutter out in an effusion of red and purple and yellow, all the bright colors of flesh. But his arm twists in odd angles and his breathing bubbles and his vision blurs, and he does not want to die here. Not here, not yet, not now.

A man stares at him, eyes glazing over as he looks away. A woman croaks, "Help."

_Save us, preserve us. Help us as you always do._

He can do nothing but answer, and in the end he laughs as his unnatural life's blood turns to ash on the wind.


	20. enactment

Note: Inspired by sapphireswimming's "Apricity" #68: Psychology.

"You ran right back to Daddy Dearest first chance you got, little girl."

"You don't get it, do you?" Dani spat. "You know why I was first made. I've found a lot of loopholes since then, but that doesn't mean my purpose has changed any."

Spectra paused, examining the comment. Typical of either Phantom, the brat was obviously bluffing.

"That ri-ight," Dani teased. "You thought you were really clever, using all those psychology tricks on me, but the thing is, they really only work on human kids."

Spectra hissed, understanding.

Dani _grinned_ and kindly told her, "I was never human."


	21. ores

Danny does not know that that worst of all possible futures was in truth one of many in which a shadowed other reigned over a shattered world. This world was the worst only because it was the only one where the fallen Phantom could become a dark god, potential that had been fulfilled a scant few days after Danny was sent into the timeline. His downfall, the monster's child self alone forced to witness the depths of his abyss. The mistakes of the great must be scarcer than all others by definition; the resulting ruin is so much the greater.


	22. extragalactic

Tucker sat at the table, staring dully at the kitchen door.

Danny wandered in muttering to himself. He noticed Tucker and asked, "Have you seen the spare power cell for the Mark IV Ecto-Flenser?"

Tucker started. "Uh? No."

Danny frowned. "Tucker, are you okay?"

Tucker blinked, shook his head sharply and answered, "I have no idea."

Danny pondered his friend's stranger-than-usual behavior. "Fenton overexposure?"

"…What?"

"It's what happens when someone gets a really high dose of Fenton Family Weirdness before they've built up a resistance to weird stuff."

Tucker nodded. "Okay, now that makes sense, but that's not what happened."


	23. hashes

Note: follows directly on from "extragalactic", although it can stand alone.

* * *

"Tucker, what happened? What's wrong?"

Tucker looked away, silent. Finally, he muttered something.

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"The Nasty Burger stopped making their Quintuple Nasty Extra Meaty Burger with Extra Cheese Deluxe! It's terrible," Tucker sobbed.

Danny stared at him slack-jawed. "That's what you had me so worried about?" he yelled.

Tucker sniffled a bit, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "But it was really good," he mumbled plaintively.

Danny shook his head in disbelief. "You are so weird."

So the half-ghost went to check the ecto-powered kitchen for spare parts for his mad scientist parents' latest laws-of-reality-defying invention.


	24. misinformed

When her daughter came to her asking where they kept the bandages and if she could go back to her old training regimen, Maddie had assumed it was just Jasmine being her usual fussbudget self. It wasn't as though anyone ever really got hurt.

(_And isn't that strange_, she'd thought, _how despite Phantom's ever-growing power the worst that seems to happen around him is a few scares and the inevitable property damage._)

Maddie looks at the children on their white beds, their faces twisted in pain. She wishes she'd remembered that old saying about assuming sooner, cursing her own helplessness.


	25. autumnal

BGM: "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation.

* * *

She stood alone in a field.

Her arthritic hands were closed around a plain, serviceable metal staff. She was old now, all smile-carved lines and mist-clouded eyes twinkling in the sunset light. Now the heart-pounding chase and the desperate battle were only memories weighing on her creaking joints.

That mattered not to the misshapen behemoth bearing down on her, nor to the army of clacking-bone warriors surrounding her on all sides.

There was nowhere to run.

But that was all right. Actually, this was perfect.

She lifted a hand, beckoning a challenge.

Maddie had always known she'd go out fighting.


	26. prolix

"Doesn't matter," she grunted. "I can stand and I can fight. That's all I need."

"Really? You really think that?"

She fired once, twice, three times.

"…Okay, ow. But seriously, what happens when you run out of targets?"

"I find new ones," she said flatly.

"That does make sense, for you… but then what? What are you going to do when there are no ghosts to hunt?"

She glared, the scarlet lines of her suit sharp against the black mirror of her faceplate.

"Can you really use your weapons and your skills to kill humans?"

She rushed forward, guns blazing.


	27. jubilantly

He smiles, bringing in a bag of chips for movie night.

He smiles, fighting for the lives of everyone in the city below him.

He smiles, hoping against hope that she will help him.

He smiles, believing the battle already won.

He smiles, hiding the fading scars of last night's defeat.

He smiles, dreaming of second grade and snow days.

He smiles, switching masks with the ease of long practice.

He smiles, glorying in his greatest enemy's humiliation.

He smiles; with this, he has earned his rest.

He opens his eyes one last time; for once, there are no smiles.


	28. countenances

BGM: "Mad World" by Tears for Fears.

* * *

He shifted uneasily, glancing from side to side, absently wringing his hands. Finally, the ringing cut out, and a familiar voice came on.

"Hi… I've been busy," he hedged. This wasn't the time for details. "Uh, just, stuff, you know? We're doing fine. …What! No, no, that wasn't us. We aren't going to get caught."

A cold point pressed into his back, and suddenly he felt as slow and heavy as a lead anchor.

"I, uh – I have to go. I'm-sorry-bye."

The handset dropped, dangling on its cord, and a fearful voice clamored through the wires, calling for her child.

* * *

Continuity: On the Run.


	29. rippling

Turning on the tap and gulping down water, he catches his breath in the midnight gloom.

A wave of dizziness hits, and Danny's hands curl around the edges of the counter like a drowned man's on a rock. Gulping in breaths, he looks balefully up at the mirror, hollow-eyed and hollow-hearted.

One hand scrabbles for the edge. He swings the door open, fingers leaping spiderlike and pulling out a small white bottle. The lid pops off with a moment's effort and he shakes out one, two.

Three pills.

They fall down his throat like pebbles into water, and he chokes.


	30. swivel

"I never get lost in the Ghost Zone."

"Really?"

Danny shrugged and looked away. "Well, I think so."

"Dude, that's not an answer."

"I really don't know," he protested. "All I do know is that the more I explore, the easier it gets to orient myself. That makes sense, right?"

"Well, it would have, but the only landmarks are floating purple rocks and random doors to wherever. You can actually find your way around that without any map?"

"Tucker, there's only one map that's any use and it's locked up for a reason. Now will you please drop the subject?"


	31. barge

"Okay, just to make sure: Technus is hiding in that enormous cargo ship…"

"Yep," Sam affirmed.

"…which is booby-trapped and death-trapped to the point of complete and utter overkill…"

"Probably," Tucker agreed.

"…and I'm going first, why?"

Tucker held up a finger and started counting. "You can go intangible. You can recover from really nasty injuries that would put us in the… _hospital_. And Technus can't disable your weapons, so if all else fails you can just blast your way out! You're the perfect tank!"

"…Are you kidding? Is this payback for ditching you on that raid on level 5?"

* * *

Note: Have been reading Halkeginia Online. Remembered these three are gamers, and I had to find an excuse to lampshade that.


	32. cytogenetic

Dani snapped her fingers, and sparks flew. "Cool, huh?"

I stared at the color-inverted afterimages of flares of handheld lightning. No way was I going to tell her that was like one of Vlad's powers re-colored. "Yeah, it is… How'd you learn that?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. It just kind of happened."

I gave her my best deadpan look.

She sighed dramatically. "I've been experimenting, okay?"

I started-

"If you tell me to be careful, your new nickname will be 'Pot', like in 'pot and kettle'."

I laughed.

Dani snapped her fingers, and the leaf litter sparked into flame.


End file.
